Hand County press. (Miller, Dakota [S.D.]) 1882-1893, 1887-12-01
SOLDERING IN DAKOTA.
kemin'scescesofan Expedition against
the Indians In 1864.

, Reminlsce.cosofan Expedition against
the Indians In 1854.
Notes OF the following account of an
, expedition of soldiers through Dakota in
. 1864 Is furnished the PRESS by Mr.. Frank
Myers, now resident in Miller, who be.
longed to Co. b, 9th lava Cavalry. The
account is lengthy and be published in in
staiiinents. Our readers will find il an
interesting description Of this country
long before white settlement was thought
or and the troubles ana hardships of the
soldiers 6ghing Indians.-EDsl
The following account OF an expedition
In which took part Is taken from crude
diary kept on the trip Of each days
movements regret very much leaving
out many interesting details, which now
find impossible 10 replace by memory,
but as the PRESS has requested copy for
publication, herewith submit, with this
brief apology for its incompleteness, the
record Of my diary
During the early summer OF 1864, while
at Sioux City, Iowa. Co, B, 9th Iowa Cav
airy. Of which was a member, received
orders to join an expedition against the
Indians in Dakota, to protect the frontier
and open mp trail through to the Yellow
stone country. The expedition was
under the command Of General Alfred
Sulley, and consisted OF about 5000 troops.
After considerable time for preparation on
June 4, 1864, we packed Cur tents, folded
blankets, saddled our horses and started
on the big march for the Yellowstone river
in Montana Territory, crossing the Big
Sioux river six miles west Of Sioux Cit.
we took mp our march in Dakota. June
7th We camp on the Vermillion river, at
the town Of the same name, which con
sists Of two or three small stores and
half dozen houses, and the hrst sign Of
civilization after leaving Sioux City. Our
next camp on the Sth is on the Jim river;
plenty of wood and good water, but grass
very short Here we see Frenchman
farming, the first farmer We meet in Da-
kota. On the 9th we march miles and
camp at the capital Yankton, which Is
small town beautifully located on the
north side Of the Missouri river. Just |
north Of town we see new houses and evil |
dence OF en- attempt to open mp this wild |
country; also notice there are no houses |
except close to town guess they are |
afraid Of Indians. On the 10th we march |
% miles and camp at Bon Homme, which |
is not much of q town, and consists OF
some eight or ten log houses. located on
high rolling prairie. There is no settle.
meut between Yankton and this place,
which is the last sign Of civilization in
Dakota, except the forts We pass. June
llth march % miles and camp on Choteau
creek, having passed over q rough country
with very poor feed for our horse. The
18th consists Of twenty mile march, with
camp four miles above the Ysnaton agen-
cy; country Travelled agan rough, but at
the agency are sevenl hundred acres Of
beautiful bottum land. The indians have
Ia some three or four hundred acres Of |
corn and it looks fine. On the 18th after |
a jaunt Of Ia miles We reach Ft. Rancall,
where We lay over next uay.
Starting again the 18th we pass TT.
Thompson Oh the 18th, reaching Fl. Sully
the 22d, four miles above which we camp,
without incident worthy OF note. We
have kept most Of the time close to the
river country generally quite rough. On
the 26th we leave Sully and strike 20
miles north, camping for part of the day
ON Okaboio creek; We haye worked out
from the river to the beautiful prairies,
where we find good water and plenty Of
grass. 20 miles the 9th and Is the 2Sth
brought us to Cheyenne creek (this is now
in Potter county. IL the morning as We
start Capt. Fielner, our Typographical en-
gineer with two soldiers leave the CON-
mand and bear of to the west to inspect
a rock close to the Cheyenne. This rock
has fat smoothe surface some fifteen
feet wide, and on the top of II are three foot
prints imbedded in the rock about one
inch. The Indians call this medicine
rock. After examining the rock the Capt
and two mel start for the command. In
explanation will say We have one oom-
psny OF Dakota soldiers called the Dakota
Scouts, in which there are about 20 Indian
soldiers. They always march or scout
ahead Of the command. This company
had reached the creek and picked out Q
camp. This is the camp Capt Fielner and
two men were going to, and when getting
within about one mile Of the scouts the
trio picketed their horses with the intsn-
ton OF going down to the creek to get a
drink and wait urtil the command came
up. There was heavy clump of bushes
q few rods ahead Of them, and as the men
came sear these bushes, the Capt. In front,
whangl went gun and the Capt. was shot
through the lungs. Three Indians rushed
out of the brush after the three horses,
but the horses jerked up their picket pins
and got away, Then the Indians took to
their heels. The soldiers got after them
as soon as possible, but had to run about
fifteen miles before getting within gun
shot Of the reds. They killed the three
Indians, cut of their heads and brought
them into camp, which they reached a
little after dark. Capt. Fielner lived till
about 10 o'clock that night.
On the Goth We camped on Swan creek
after 10 mile march, where We expect to
meet lot of Minnesota troops, but fail to
nnd them. After dark we send up sky
rockets but get no answer. However the
next day the troops arrive, accompanied
by an immigrant trian OF $50 wagons, a
colony on their way TO Idaho We now
have about 5000 soldiers in our command.
After resting until July Sd. We again break
camp aud march 90 miles over beautiful
rolling prairie. The ita was REPETITION
with 30 miles further: no timbe:, and
make fires to cook with buffalo chips. We
see there have been plenty Of buffalo here
Io,aI,. IVA ssa olenty Of antelope every